Chinese microblog suspends accounts for false rumors

New York, August 29, 2011--A Chinese microblog's
announcement that it suspended two accounts for spreading rumors may be an
attempt to rein in online news reporting, the Committee to Protect Journalists
said today.

Weibo, the Twitter-like web platform run by popular online
information portal Sina, announced on Friday that two user accounts had been
suspended for one month for transmitting false rumors, international news
reports said. One user was suspended for saying that a man accused of killing a
woman was released because of his father's political connections, The
New York Timessaid. Another user's account was suspended after he
accused the Red Cross Society of China of profiting from the
sale of donated blood, the Times reported. Sina denied
both reports in one of at least two notices sent to users of the service,
translated by the Hong Kong University-based China Media
Project.

"This is an attempt to deter journalists and bloggers from
using Sina's microblog service to report breaking news," said CPJ Deputy
Director Robert Mahoney. "Chinese authorities concerned by rumors would be
better served by allowing free reporting in the nation's media--not by
stepping up online controls."

Communist Party news outlets like the Global Times
and People's Daily have criticized social networking sites in recent
weeks. Weibo came under particular scrutiny by authorities as a platform for
popular anger after a train
crashed in Wenzhou and a chemical
plant was damaged in Dalian. Firsthand accounts of the accidents and
criticism of the government's response circulated widely online despite
propaganda department regulations
forbidding negative reporting.

Sina, which has 200 million
users, seems to be under increasing pressure from Chinese authorities. Last
week, Liu Qi, Beijing's Communist Party secretary, publicly visited the
company's headquarters and exhorted Internet companies to "step up the
application and management of new technology, and absolutely put an end to fake
and misleading information," according to The
Wall Street Journal. Sina responded with a statement on Thursday saying
it would "put more
effort into attacking all kinds of rumors," The Associated Press said.

Twitter is blocked
in China,
and local Internet companies are bound by their licensing agreements to monitor
and censor content. Other Chinese microblog platforms have been forced to close
during times of tight online security, according to CPJ
research.